The truth about Rey’s parents in “Last Jedi” might actually be a lie

It’s a moment we waited almost two years for: shirtless Kylo Ren The truth about Rey’s parents. After the big mystery surrounding their identity was first introduced in The Force Awakens, the latest Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, gives us the answers we’ve been looking for. Or does it? Now that we’ve all had time to process this bombshell (and see the movie a few more times), what we’ve been told about Rey’s mom and dad might be a complete and utter lie.

There is no spoiler warning for this post, because Last Jedi has made over a billion dollars at the box office, which means there are maybe like, six people by now who haven’t seen it yet. In the movie, Rey travels to Ahch-To to train with Luke Skywalker, and comes face-to-face with her own reflection when searching for the identity of her parents on the island. Later, Kylo taunts her with the information via their Force Skype phone calls, and when they’re face-to-face, Rey finally admits what she knows: her parents were junk traders who sold her off for money. They’re now dead, buried in a pauper’s grave on Jakku.

This sure sounds like the end of the #drama surrounding Rey’s parents, but now, all might not be what it seems. Director Rian Johnson has started inserting the scariest thing of all, doubt, into our minds when it comes to the truth about Rey’s parents. In an interview with HuffPost, Johnson explained that this story is still “open,” and that J.J. Abrams — who is returning to the saga, and also taking over for Johnson with Episode IX — can do what he likes with this family dynamic. As for what Rey reveals in Last Jedi:

“What’s going to make life hardest on [Rey]? It would be the big ‘I am your father’ twist," Johnson said. "And same thing with Rey and her parentage. The easy thing would be, ‘Yes, your parents are so and so and here’s your place in the world. There you go.’ The hardest thing she could hear would be, ‘No, you’re not going to get the answer. This is not going to define you. You’re going to have to find your own place in this world. Kylo is going to use that even as leverage to try and make you feel insecure, and you’re going to have to stand on your own two feet."

Well, having seen the movie, that certainly works, in regards to Kylo trying to knock the more powerful Rey down a few pegs. But the question remains to be seen if Kylo is BS-ing her, and if there’s more truth out there that Rey doesn’t know.

In a separate Q&A session following a screening of the movie, according to Entertainment Weekly Johnson told the crowd again that Abrams has control now, and “there’s always, in these movies, a question of ‘a certain point of view.’But for me, in that moment, Kylo believes it’s the truth. I don’t think he’s purely playing chess. I think that’s what he saw when they touched fingers and that’s what he believes. And when he tells her that in that moment, she believes it.”

The big question is now what does Rey believe, what does Kylo believe, and what do we believe? Only 716 days ’til Episode IX!